


Perspective

by MorganaNK



Category: Inspector Lynley - All Media Types, Inspector Lynley Mysteries (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 03:21:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11958642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorganaNK/pseuds/MorganaNK
Summary: Set during the episode 'A Suitable Vengeance'; the Lynley family from five different perspectives





	Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Property of Elizabeth George and the BBC, no copyright infringement intended

_Barbara:_

I watch the Lynley family interact with a mounting sadness. Everything seems rehearsed, as if they are actors on a stage. There is no real affection, no relaxed camaraderie, no sign of the pleasure spending time with people you love brings. Even me, with my limited experience of happy families, can see that things are very wrong between them.

Tommy is angry, Helen is sullen, Dorothy is living on her nerves, Peter is a spoilt brat with entitlement issues, and Judith hasn’t even bothered to turn up. They are tearing each other apart and yet they don’t seem able to recognise that and do something about it. Don’t realise how lucky they are to still have each other?

_Tommy:_

I didn’t invite Barbara to mine and Helen’s engagement party because she is my friend, although she is, but because I don’t think I could face being here without her. It’s ridiculous; I’m a grown man, a detective inspector, an earl, and yet when I am in my family home I feel like I am seventeen again.

However much I need her here, I am embarrassed that Barbara is being exposed to my toxic and selfish family. After the way we are behaving I wouldn’t blame her if she never wants to see me or my family again.

_Helen:_

The only time Tommy seems happy is when he is with Barbara. The three of us can be in a room and he will completely ignore me to interact with her, turning his back on me and talking over me, it’s as if I don’t exist. Why the hell are we getting married when he’d obviously rather be with her than me?

_Dorothy:_

Tommy is still livid with me. After all these years he still bears a grudge for what happened when his father was dying. As he agreed to have his and Helen’s engagement party here I thought that perhaps things were starting to improve. I was wrong. The only person he interacts with normally is Barbara, his colleague. She seems able to reach him like no one else can.

_Peter:_

Tommy’s here and we must all bow down to his greatness. He hasn’t changed, it’s still all about him, as if he was the only one who was affected by our father’s death. 

I take great delight in being able to push his buttons, wind him up, humiliate him and embarrass him. I want him to hurt as much as he hurt me. Only I don’t, I just want him to be my brother again.


End file.
